PEN IDOL

SEXY Susanne Manning has sent her Reading fans a teasing glimpse of the screen goddess look she could adopt on tomorrow night's Pop Idol.

In a special handwritten message to the Evening Post, the ITV show's contestant picked a card with a photograph of Audrey Hepburn in her classic Holly Golightly role in the classic film Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Inside, the 21-year-old's card said: "To everyone at the Evening Post, thank you for all your support, it means so much to me - you will never know how much. God bless."

This week rumours about Susanne, including claims she insulted fellow hopeful Michelle McManus, demanded bodyguards and refused to sign autographs, were printed in national papers.

But Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman claimed the songstress, who is one of the favourites to win the contest, was the victim of a conspiracy to get her off the show.

And Susanne's cousin Karen Heard, a lecturer at Reading College and School of Arts & Design, told the Evening Post: "Susanne is certainly not the prima donna she has been portrayed as."

She added: "I know she'll be all right, she is strong and she is focusing on this week's show."

And fashion expert Karen believes Hepburn's timeless ‘Parisian haute couture chic' style could be a winner for Susanne on tomorrow's show when the contestants get to sing with a live 50s ‘big band' style orchestra.

Speaking on the college radio station Blast 1386 yesterday afternoon, as she does every week, she said: "The kind of thing I feel she could go for is feminine and sophisticated.

"I don't think it needs to be a dress-up thing, I just think of the refinement of someone who is very beautiful and we all know Susanne is very beautiful and doesn't need over-the-topness.